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Samson's Wig

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Everything posted by Samson's Wig

  1. I hope my screed can assist in discussions with your partner about a different location.
  2. State law enforcement, as far as I know, has done just fine, but it is tiny compared to the ABQ police department, as the vast majority of the state resides in Albuquerque. The ABQ police department was taken over by the feds not too long ago and was notoriously one of the worst departments in the country for years. I haven't kept up recently, so I don't know what things look like now.
  3. No doubt about the art scene, and the LGBTQ+ community is definitely strong in Santa Fe. It's also quite prevalent in Albuquerque. That was the only community we found any welcome from in our time there. In fact, my very first client in New Mexico was the local drag show. My old law partner is a gay man living and practicing in NM and by all accounts is still happy there. If you ever want to talk shop with someone who is local about what practicing there might look like, shoot me a message and I'll connect you. I can tell you it can be rough, and I never earned much locally but fortunately had a nationwide practice.
  4. I'll write you a dissertation at some point if you like, but the short of it is that it's a lovely place to visit and a terrible place to live, especially if you're still in your earning years. I still miss the weather, the landscape, and even the food, but I do not miss the people. We left in large part to get our children away from the default attitude of "given up" that 90% of the population lives by. I seem to recall you mentioning having kids. Do not move there and put them in public school if you expect them to know anyone who will ever do anything with their life. The state's horrible policies drive a lot of this. A classic is that property taxes never go up so long as a house stays in the family - sounds like a nice policy until you realize it incentives generations of people to do absolutely nothing because they can live in the same house great grandpa built in 1902 for about $50 a year, so no one is incentivized to do anything beyond the absolute least possible to get by. The end result is New Mexico competes year after year with Mississippi for the poorest state in America. There are a small handful of people working their assess off to improve the place, and they are met with a state taxing department that treats them like a piggy bank and commits some of the more egregious government overreach I've ever seen. It's straight-up criminal, with no exaggeration, but you will be living in an essentially lawless place, so what is criminal, anyway? If you own a business, bring your own tub of lube. Reason, rationality, and even the law do not factor into any interaction with state tax and rev. If you are deemed to have something beyond a mere subsistence existence, they will try and take it from you until you're broken like everyone else there. This is why the wealthy folks in Santa Fe don't actually reside in New Mexico, they just fly in from somewhere else to their second or third house. They still get dinged at every opportunity by tax and rev, but not nearly as bad as residents. You see the upside-down attitude of punishing people for trying to do better pop up in lots of places. New Mexico has one of the highest (maybe the highest) rates of uninsured motorists in America. Do they step up enforcement? No, they just charge the people doing the right thing more money. Stealing a car wasn't even a felony until around 2011. Each neighborhood in Albuquerque has a state senator. So whoever has the most relatives in a zip code gets elected. And despite this rather quaint state government, the oil and gas industries really run everything and pay nothing into the system for it. It's a mess of a place with corruption that makes Illinois (or Texas) look like candy apples. The other aspect that can be really tough there is New Mexico is one of the least hospitable places I've ever been. People keep to themselves and their own group. Almost anywhere I've ever been in the world you can walk into a pub, strike up a conversation, and end your experience with some new friends. That is an extremely rare occurrence in NM. I never really figured out why, but people are not interested in meeting new people in that place. Santa Fe is a bit different as it's filled with tourists and outsiders how spend only part of the year there, but the rest of the state would just as soon you not be there. So this turned into a poorly written dissertation after all, but in summary, New Mexico is a great place if you're independently wealthy and can shield your assets from a taxing authority that operates more like a Mongol horde than a government department. If you have kids that are still being raised or intend to earn money in the state, run as far away as you possibly can. If you're thinking of retirement, then sure. But know that you'll be surrounded by some of the most corrupt and some of the most sadly beat-down people you'll ever come across. Texas pisses me off all the time, especially the politics, but New Mexico gives me the shivers when I think about it. It's a place to give up. It's not a place to live.
  5. Speaking from experience. Do not fall for the New Mexico trap.
  6. Every short-term rental that gets turned into a long-term rental space for actual residents to live in is a win. If they're sold to a resident/owner, even better.
  7. Then please also note your obtuse comment didn't merit a reply, hence the weak attempt at comedy, but okay here's a response: Sure, small and middling PE firms fail without fanfare. No one said they didn't. I never wrote that any PE firm, even a large one, would actually be bailed out, which seems to be your misguided point of contention. I merely laughed at the notion that they wouldn't try, and your lack of reading comprehension and irrational level of defensiveness on this subject took care of the rest. I wasn't even engaging with you, and have no real interest in doing so moving forward. If you don't think a PE firm the size of Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group (both clients of mine), or BlackRock wouldn't seek assistance were they facing insolvency, you're merely highlighting that you don't know what the fuck you're talking about. And while we're at it, I'll go ahead and point out that your earlier comment about TARP making money is complete bullshit, although commonly touted bullshit among investment bankers thanks to a false Treasury Dept. memo that still gets passed around, as TARP managed to net out about a $15B before you factor in inflation, but since, you know, inflation exists, the actual number is a loss of ~$24B. But why get caught up on numbers, right? Was TARP necessary? I think so, but I'm also tired of listening to know-nothing mid-level investment bankers and low-level VPs at PE firms spewing similar rhetoric as you have in this thread. You probably also think it was Andy who went to pieces when it was clearly Buddy.
  8. I have to stop reading shit like this or my house will be on the market and my kids will hate me for taking them away from their friends.
  9. I'm sorry, but I can't take a part-time airline mechanic and full-time daredevil seriously on this topic.
  10. You need an explanation as to whether they might ask for a capital injection if their businesses are facing failure? I mean, I guess you're right to be dubious as we've never seen any other industry do this before with success.
  11. Some of the comments in this thread help me understand how so many of the dvoryanstvo never saw it coming, despite all the obvious signs.
  12. It's just incredible. And frightening. It's also why I refuse to talk about anything like this, or politics of any kind, with anyone in person, ever. If someone opens their mouth and spews out the complete pile of bullshit that TexasHammer just laid out, I would never be able to take them seriously or even deal with them in any capacity, ever again. Generally speaking, morons can be fun to hang out with so long as you don't know their deep thoughts, and I don't want to ruin any potential good times to be had. Most of my family is dumber than a bag of broken dildos as well, so I would never be able to attend holiday get-togethers if I held that aga . . . wait a minute.
  13. I know this is a late response, but I'm pretty sure Covid provided evidence that around 30% of adults in this country suffer from ODD. It was staggering to watch (and still is).
  14. Probably just that body double from before. Don't take this one away from the crazies.
  15. Wasn't a Coca-Cola bottle the inciting incident in that movie? If my fuzzy memory is working, there was a sequel as well.
  16. It doesn't take much work to tell who is involved in residential development and/or sunk all their retirement eggs into their home. A bunch of asshats (myself very much included) who have obtained ill-gotten net worth through stupid home value increases at the expense of our children, and the future of this nation are likely to be in for a rude awakening when the youngsters finally have enough of it. I, for one, will try not to complain when shipped off to the Soviet gulag-style retirement barracks that we're all forced into at some point.
  17. Ban short-term rentals, and this problem takes care of itself. Charge triple the property tax rate on corporate-owned homes just to give it the final kick in the pants. People who like to invest in rental properties have lots of other options.
  18. You've been very lucky, I guess. Once you're inside the airport, things are generally fine, notwithstanding some of the things already mentioned regarding the way TSA handles pre-check and CLEAR that you don't see at any other decent airport. It's the dumbasses who wildly overbook flights well beyond the capacity of our system that are the problem (hint - it's operated by the city). Arrivals and Departure lanes are some of the most fucked up bits of civil engineering I've ever seen, as are the parking lots/garages and ride-share setups. It's a complete clusterfuck getting in and out of there by vehicle. Baggage claim, for those crazy enough to check a bag, is completely fucked as well, often with five different giant flights all being piled onto a single baggage claim, where everyone ends up waiting twice as long for their bags compared to seemingly every airport on earth, including those in central and south America. When the people making decisions on capacity are the same folks concerned about driving tourist dollars to town, you're going to get some seriously fucked up managerial decisions. The folks abandoning rental cars for miles along the highway during SXSW is a prime example of this type of mismanagement. The same issue is what led to the near runway crash a few years back. We fly way too many planes in and out each day for the size of airport and surrounding infrastructure we have. The worst part of the airport, in my opinion, is the arrivals lane. At most times of day you will sit your ass in the most convoluted and long ass line for no good reason other than what I assume is aggie engineering combined with Austin local government planning, even when the airport isn't particularly busy. There are ways around it, but the fact it's an issue in the first place is pathetic. It's a completely dysfunctional mess. Our airport is relatively attractive on the inside, and I appreciate the use of local art and businesses. But that's about the only thing they've done right. It's not dissimilar from our city government's decisions to spend money on bike lanes and local art installations instead of basic infrastructure. So the airport at least matches the city in this regard, I guess. Here's a list of airports owned and operated by municipalities in the U.S. Some are better than others, but the difference is rather stark, IMO, when compared to airports owned and operated by an airport authority model (where an independent, i.e. private, body manages the airport on behalf of the municipality). With these airports, you're at the mercy of how good the city management is, so it varies wildly. Municipal (City/County) Government Department ABQ -- Albuquerque International Sunport ATL -- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport AUS -- Austin-Bergstrom International Airport CLE -- Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport CLT -- Charlotte Douglas International Airport DEN -- Denver International Airport IAH -- George Bush Intercontinental Airport LAS -- Las Vegas McCarran International Airport LAX -- Los Angeles International Airport (LAWA)L45 — Bakersfield Municpal Airport (L45) OMA -- Eppley Airfield ONT -- Los Angeles/Ontario International Airport (LAWA) MCI -- Kansas City International Airport MDW -- Chicago Midway International Airport (CDA) MIA -- Miami International Airport (MDAD) MSY -- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport OAK -- Oakland International Airport ORD -- Chicago O'Hare International Airport (CDA) PHL -- Philadelphia International Airport PHX -- Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport SFO -- San Francisco International Airport SJC -- Norman Y. Mineta San José International Airport SLC -- Salt Lake City International Airport SMF -- Sacramento International Airport STL -- Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
  19. Global Entry is great, although, like TSA precheck, the more people get it, the less useful it becomes. None of it can overcome how shitty your airport experience is if you live in Austin and fly in and out of ABIA frequently, though. I fly a lot, and it may be the worst operated airport in the U.S. I can't claim to have been in all of them, or else I would state it definitively.
  20. Just double the cost to fly and relegate discount airlines to shitty airports further away from major city centers and most of these problems go away.
  21. I'll never begrudge someone who commutes on two wheels. I ride the motorized version myself. But yeah, the fucksticks in this town who use bike lanes aren't commuting anywhere. We're subsidizing their choice of exercise with our time and tax dollars and making the roadways, especially intersections, less safe. It's no different than if a group of folks preferred to get exercise playing street hockey and demanded the city carve space out of the roadways for them to do so at any time of day they like. I know there are decent people who cycle for exercise. I've got friends who do it. But the cycling community has to have a higher percentage of complete and utter pieces of shit than any other group out there, save perhaps the Southern Baptist Convention. I think it's likely because it's such a popular pastime for lawyers. Our kids are at Lamar Middle School, so I'm at the Shoal Creek and Allandale/Northland intersection between 10-20 times a week, just counting the school drop-off and pick-up trips. At least three or four times every week, I'll be waiting to turn West onto Northland/Allandale from Shoal Creek, the light will turn green, and I'll be stuck waiting on a dipshit to finish taking a long drink of water or finishing up bro-ing out with his fellow cyclist before hiking up his spandex and finally beginning his trek south across the intersection. If you dare to tap the horn, say something, or go ahead and make the turn since they're not moving (after trying your best to get their attention), you have to be prepared for an onslaught of verbal abuse. That's if you're lucky, and it isn't a cavalcade of bespandexed dipshits doing a group ride who plow through the intersection the entire duration of the light, leaving no time for anyone in a vehicle to turn right. At least they're moving, I guess. Is there a word for a group of cyclists, such as "a murder of crows," "a bloat of hippopotami," or "a pandemonium of parrots"? If not, I'd like to suggest "a sanctimony of cyclists".
  22. That talentless hack can be blamed for a lot of shit. But yeah, that, in particular, is his fucking fault.
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